CLONEAMERY,
or CLOWEN, a parish, in the barony of IDA, county of KILKENNY,
and province of LEINSTER, 1 mile (S. E.) from Innistiogue; containing
777 inhabitants.
This parish,
which is situated on the left bank of the river Nore, and on
the mail coach road from Dublin to New Ross, by way of
Thomastown, comprises 3277 statute acres, of which 170 are woodland,
648 mountain and waste, 129 bog, and the remainder arable and pasture
land.
It is
a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Ossory, forming the
corps of the prebend of Cloneamery in the cathedral of St. Canice, Kilkenny,
and part of the union of Innistiogue, in the patronage
of the Bishop. The tithes amount to £135.
In the
Roman Catholic divisions also it forms part of the union or
district of Innistiogue ;. the chapel is at Clediagh.
Here is
a private school, in which about 60 boys and 30 girls are educated.
Bishop Pococke bequeathed 116 plantation acres of mountain land,
called Bishop’s Hill, and worth about £50 per annum,
for the instruction of children, which is held by the Incorporated School
Society.
On a steep
mound near the river stand the ruins of Clowen castle, belonging
to the Fitzgeralds, and singularly divided into two parts, There
arc also some remains of an old church. In a romantic glen up a creek
of the Nore is Clodagh waterfall ; it is a cascade of great beauty falling
down a rugged precipice of about 60 feet, and from the fissures of the
overhanging rocks on both sides spring a great variety of trees and
shrubs.
